Every day during the Tour there is a team meeting.

Every team will have a different strategy for the day, even if it is survival rather than victory.

The main concern for a team of non-climbers would be to get through the day in one piece and make the time cut.

This ensures they live to fight another day and possibly pick up a stage victory before the race reaches Paris.

If the team has some guys who can climb reasonably well, but are not good enough to win the stage, they might decide to go on the attack early.

That way they will get some good publicity. Being one of the bigger stages, there will be a lot of live television coverage on Stage 16.

If the team has a potential stage winner, then the meeting will focus on the best way to go about it.

Motivation required

A lot will depend on how the race is shaping up in the battle for overall honours.

There will be 101 scenarios to think of, but on paper there will only be a handful of riders who have the ability to win this stage.

For the Directeur Sportif - the boss - of a team with a potential stage winner, there will be a lot of motivational talking going on - trying to convince the rider it is his day.

However, for the majority of the field it will be a case of survival and ticking off another gruelling day on the way to Paris.